1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tire information monitoring system for monitoring tire information regarding a tire condition, and a setting method for setting information and a criterion of the tire information monitoring system.
2. Background Information
Conventionally, inspecting and managing air pressure of tires mounted on vehicles has been desirable from the perspectives of enhancing tire durability, wear resistance, fuel economy, riding comfort, and driving performance. As a result, various tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) have been suggested. Generally, in these systems, air pressure in tires is monitored by detecting the air pressure information of a tire assembled on a wheel, providing a transmitting device for transmitting this information in a tire cavity region of each of the tires, and acquiring the air pressure information of each tire from the transmitting devices.
In order to identify from which tire (which is assembled on a wheel) the air pressure information has been transmitted, communication information including identification information of the transmitting device and the air pressure information of the tire is transmitted by the transmitting device. A receiving device can identify from which tire (which is assembled on a wheel) the transmitted information originated based on the identification information of the transmitting device included in the communication information. The receiving device uses a table in which the identification information of the transmitting device and mounting position information of the wheels is associated in order to obtain the mounting position information from the identification information. Therefore, identification information of the transmitting device and the mounting position information of the wheels are associated prior to beginning operation of the system.
On the other hand, the receiving device used in such a system for receiving the air pressure information is installed, for example, in a cabin of a vehicle, and specifically in a location that is within the line of sight of the driver. Therefore, it is desirable that the receiving device be small and that manufacturing costs thereof be low. Thus, from the perspectives of reducing size and lowering manufacturing costs, it is not desirable to provide the receiving device with input operation features such as numeric key pads, touch panels or the like for performing the tasks described above.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-314726A describes a wheel information acquisition system in which air pressure information is transmitted from a transmitting device provided on a wheel mounted on a vehicle and received by a receiving device, so that an identification of a mounting position of a wheel having the air pressure information of the tire received by the receiving device can be confirmed. In this type of system, the air pressure information of a tire is transmitted wirelessly along with indigenous identification information from a first communication device provided on a wheel. The transmitted air pressure information and the identification information of the tire are received by a second communication device provided on a vehicle body on which the wheel is mounted. At this time, a setting device for setting vehicle mounting position information, which is used to acquire a mounting position of the wheel (on the vehicle body) having the tire air pressure information in the second communication device, is used.
Specifically, this setting device acquires the identification information that the first communication device holds, and wirelessly transmits the identification information and mounting position information set and input for the wheel on the vehicle body to the second communication device. This causes the second communication device to associate the identification information and the mounting position information with each other, and to set and register the result of this association.
However, when associating, in order to communicate with the setting device, the first communication device of the system described above is provided with receiving functionality for receiving communications from the setting device. Thus, the first communication device that is attached to the wheel has both transmission functionality and receiving functionality, which leads to a complex configuration and increased costs. Additionally, the setting device is a dedicated device for wirelessly transmitting and receiving to/from the first communication device and to/from the second communication device. Therefore, a dedicated setting device for use in the system described above must be fabricated, which leads to a complex system and increased manufacturing costs.